Here the well traveled American roots duo Smooth Hound Smith shares with us their top eight tips for successful touring, whether its learning basic vehicle repair or simply how to pronounce the name of the town you’re playing in.
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Guest Post from the ReverbNation Blog
Smooth Hound Smith, the foot stompin’ American roots duo who have travelled over 80,000 road miles and played over 500 shows in 30 plus states, shared their Top 8 Touring Tips with us. From learning basic auto repair to eating healthy, these tips will help you plan a successful tour.
Here are some things that have served me well while on the road. Some of them are useful for folks just starting out; other things are great no matter how much touring you’ve done. They’re in no particular order:
- Learn some basic auto repair and get regular oil changes every 3,000 miles. (no vehicle = no tour)
- Avoid fast food like the plague. Local diners are where it’s at, or take a cooler with you and get ice everyday, stock up on veggies and healthy stuff at grocery stores. You’ll feel better and look better.
- Keep track of your merch, your sales, your numbers, as much as you can. If you want to take touring and playing seriously, you gotta develop some business acumen
- Pronounce the name of the town you’re in like the locals do (i.e. Lafayette = “laugh-e-yet”, Prescott = “press-kit”). Get it right.
- Keep a log of good places to eat, good local radio stations, and good, independent music shops all over the country.
- Have a lot of material. Sometimes, especially when you’re starting out, you’ll need to cover two or three sets, or an entire night, so learn some covers, write a lot of originals, and just be versatile.
- Bring extra everything (cables, strings, mics, foldable merch table).
- Don’t bring instruments you care too much about or that are irreplaceable, and don’t be careless with your stuff.